Saturday, October 27, 2007

Jewel-like tools


The Biedermeier style computer cabinet on my web page has several secret compartments hidden throughout. Some are accessed by removing panels, removing drawers or reaching into cavities to find them. There is one secret compartment, however, that requires a tool for access. During the construction I used an awl I'd ground down to a rounded tip. The tool is inserted into a hole in the side of a drawer space to depress a wooden spring which holds the secret compartment in place, a classic method for such things. I couldn't see a moldy old awl sitting in a drawer of this elegant piece so I fashioned a tool out of brass rod, ebony and a detail glue-up from a previous project. I always keep a stash of these odds and ends knowing I'll find a use for them someday.
Another tool was needed to prize out the rubber fitting holding the recessed halogen down light in the cabinet's central niche. I'd been using a bent tapered tool from a set of small such tools used by auto interior shops. Same moldy old tool scenario with the same solution.
The presentation box is coco bola with a mastodon ivory turn catch.

No comments: